St. Baldrick’s boosts cancer fight

The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office celebrated its sixth St. Baldrick’s event with the help of residents and agencies throughout the county, raising more than $24,000 toward the effort to research new cures for childhood cancer.

St. Baldrick’s   – a take on St. Patrick’s – involves people having their heads shaved as a fundraiser in the fight against childhood cancer.

The sheriff’s office has, over the years, raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support St. Baldrick’s. In 2011, St. Baldrick’s donors and volunteers nationwide made possible more than $21 million in funding for childhood research grants, pushing total research funding to an all-time high, according to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.

Officers from the Castle Rock, Parker and Lone Tree police departments, members of the Douglas County School District and an honorary “Knight of the Bald Table,” 11-year-old Preston Klinger, signed up for this year’s Douglas County event.

Klinger, a resident of Kiowa, was to be “Knighted” in recognition of his seventh consecutive year as a shavee.

“He’s been doing this with his dad all these years and this is just something they do to try to give back,” said Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy Niles Ackerson.

Ackerson organizes the event each year, after losing his 8-month-old daughter to cancer in 2006.

The 2012 Douglas County Sheriff’s Office St. Baldrick’s event was March 30 at the Douglas County Events Center in Castle Rock. Jake Schroeder, lead singer for “Opie Gone Bad” was to launch the St. Baldrick’s fundraiser with the national anthem, in his fourth year at the mic for the event.

A silent auction to augment the fundraising effort included sports memorabilia and handcrafted items.

The St. Baldrick's Foundation is a volunteer-driven charity that funds more in childhood cancer research grants than any organization except the U.S. government. The foundation supports infants, children, teens and young adults fighting childhood cancers. Participants’ names appear on the online donor list. To support this event and appear on the event donor list, go to stbaldricks.org and click “Make a donation,” or call 888-899-2253.